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took a step back, fumbling with the door knob directly behind her.
    He exhaled sharply. She held herself away from him and that was not all right. But he had to let her know he was there for good. She was just worried he’d love her and leave her. “Fine. I’ll call you later. You know what, Maggie? You’re my girlfriend, right?” Her eyes darted around until finally coming back to look at his face.
    “Um, well, no. We’ve dated, yes, but to my mind, that takes a lot longer than a few dates.”
    “Goodnight, Maggie.” He turned and walked away from her without another word before she could say anything else.
    -32-

    Giving Chase
    Moving into the house quickly, Maggie locked the door behind herself. She also threw the deadbolt. Her hands shook. He sat in her driveway for several minutes more and finally pulled away. With a sigh of relief, she sat in a heap on her couch.
    After the nausea passed, she went through the house and checked to make sure her doors and windows were locked as she replayed the evening in her mind. The way he spoke to her, held onto her all the time—it was really frightening and totally inappropriate. It’d started out sort of nice but went right to patronizing, clingy and then outright scary in really short order.
    No more dates with him, that was for sure. No, when she got up the next day she’d talk to Liv and work out a way to break things off that made it clear she wasn’t interested but also didn’t make things worse.

    -33-

    Lauren Dane

Chapter Three
    The day started out pretty darned good when she was downtown picking up ingredients for the banana bread.
    Distracted as she shopped for baking supplies, Maggie was walking down Main Street when she literally bumped into Shane.
    “Sheriff Chase, you seem to make a habit of knocking into me.” Her flirtatious laugh died in her throat as she looked up his body and into his face. Try as she might, she couldn’t ignore the tightening in her stomach at the sight of his khaki colored uniform stretched tight across his muscles.
    “You’re a menace, Miz Wright.” He laughed back. “Tell you what? To make up for crashing into me, yet again, why don’t you buy me a cup of coffee and cinnamon roll?”
    Unreality slid into her. Did the man just ask her for coffee? Still, she managed to hang on to her flirty tone. “All right, if it’s that or go to jail, I suppose I’d better bribe you.”
    They walked the two blocks to the Honey Bear Bakery. “Why don’t you grab a table and I’ll get the drinks and cinnamon rolls?” Maggie waved at an open corner table.
    Shane blushed. “Oh no! I was just kidding. I’ll buy.”
    “Nope, not this time. It’s my treat. Now go on, get a table, I’ll be over in a sec.” Maggie made shoo motions with her hands.
    He hesitated for a moment and she could see him wrestling with how he could wrangle his way into paying but he soon gave up and sighed.
    “Fine. I’ll get us a table.”
    -34-

    Giving Chase
    At least being alone at the counter and getting the giant rolls and steaming cups of coffee to the table without spilling gave her the chance to concentrate on something other than the fit of his uniform and why in the world he’d be interested in her to begin with. But eventually, she arrived at their table and had to unload the tray and sit down.
    “You know, when I went away to school, my dad would mail me these cinnamon rolls at my birthday and holidays.” The pleasant memory of her father cut into the happiness she’d been feeling.
    “That was nice. Sounds like something my mom would do.”
    “Your mother would bring them herself.” She laughed, thinking about Polly Chase and that mile long car of hers.
    He chuckled. “You know her pretty well then.”
    “I happen to think your mother is an amazing woman. So old world in many ways but she always surprises me with how modern she is. I have to laugh every time I hear the click clack of those heels coming down the hall when the